--- On Fri, 6/27/08, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Name your issue -- on trade, taxes, guns, the death
> penalty, campaign
> finance reform, FISA -- Obama may well be taking the
> politically
> smart position for a Democrat in these early days of the
> general
> election.
>
[WS:] I do not understand why this is even mentioned, let alone stirring emotions. US politics, especially presidential politics, are nothing but a shadow of the "inner soul of the people" (as HL Mencken once commented) - and that soul is conservative and certainly hostile to core progressive ideals (which smack of "collectivism" "socialism" "welfare state" and general weakness and lack of individuality). There is not single case in the US history of a politician perceived as "liberal" winning presidential elections. Those who were liberal had to kowtow to conservative ideals (market, god, patriotism) to be electable. Those who did not, got almost no popular support (2-3% of the popular vote at the most.)
I am really surprised that otherwise intelligent people fail to understand this basic fact. This is the god's country and ANY politician, not just Obama, must kowtow to these popular sentiments to be electable. If Karl Marx himself run for president in the US he would pe sprinting rightwards as well.
Wojtek